4 Strategies to Boost Your Pitcher's Confidence

Hey There Friend!

As a pitching coach one of my MOST IMPORTANT responsibilities is to prepare my athletes to compete CONFIDENTLY for their teams.

If your pitcher doesn't BELIEVE in HERSELF, she will not be a consistent force in the circle for her team.

If your pitcher isn't as confident as you'd like her to be, here are 4 areas that may be helpful in GROWING her trust and belief in herself and her abilities:

1. Encourage short, focused, correct CONSISTENT practice

The FREQUENCY of correct reps are more important than the length of time your pitchers spend practicing when learning a new skill.

For example, let's say your pitcher is struggling with her balance when she pitches. She's constantly falling to her arm side at release and her consistency throwing strikes or hitting her targets is really low. She knows HOW to stay balanced but can't do it automatically yet.

The FASTEST way to help her correct her balance problem, and get it to set into her muscle memory so it becomes automatic, is to invest a few minutes (5 minutes) DAILY doing correct reps.

Help your pitcher find a time in her daily schedule where she could in fit a few correct reps into her normal routine. Maybe right after she brushes her teeth before bed OR first thing when she gets out of bed in the morning OR right after she walks in the door after school.

Improving that ONE skill could be the KEY to improving her consistency with her targets AND her consistency with her targets may be what unlocks her self-confidence!

The LITTLE things really can make a BIG difference!

2. Help identify 1 or 2 things that she is (or could be) exceptional at when throwing to hitters.

I see so many pitchers that are trying to do TOO MUCH and, because of it, aren't really good at OR confident in anything that they do!

Working to be EXCEPTIONAL at a couple things, not average at many, helps pitchers pay attention to the small details that are important to mastering those one or two things.

Does your pitcher OWN what she is really good at against hitters? Does she use those one or two things to help create outs for help create outs for her team?

I often hear from coaches and parents that are convinced that their pitcher/daughter "NEEDS another pitch to be good enough at this level" and that just is not true very often.

What a pitcher really NEEDS is:

• COMMAND of what they do best FIRST
• The ability to change speeds SECOND

Does your pitcher throw exceptionally hard?

• If so, what can you do to build around that strength? How about working on her command of the zone with her fastball since that is her biggest strength. Maybe work on jamming hitters (throwing inside) as that makes her speed seem even faster. If she has great command of the zone, maybe you work on a change-up as that pitch can make her velocity even MORE powerful.

Does your pitcher throw with average velocity but have a great change-up that she is is confident using at any count in any situation?

• If so, make sure your pitch calling involves using her change-up OFTEN and in ANY COUNT. If her change-up is her greatest strength she may throw the change-up as much as she throws her fastball.

Does your pitcher have a great curve ball when she throws it to her glove side?

• If so, take it to the next level by working on angling her curve UP and DOWN on her glove side OR throwing it to her arm side (back door) against hitters. You don't always have to develop a completely NEW pitch if you can make an already effective pitch a little better!

Work to be BETTER at the one or two things that she is good at now so that she is EXCEPTIONAL with those skills. Being really good at something grows confidence in athletes!

3. Track her progress during practice and games

Charting bullpens during pre-season is a valuable tool to use to build a pitcher's confidence by showing her things she does well AND the areas she wants to continue to work to improve before her competition season begins.

One day each week during pre-season, have your pitcher throw innings and chart them.

I would do this WITHOUT a live hitter first and, as your pitcher gained confidence, eventually chart during a live scrimmage.

You can check things like:

• Total number of pitches thrown
• Overall strike percentage
• First pitch strike percentage
• A3P score
  • how often your pitcher throws at least 2 strikes in the first 3 pitches
• Quality Innings
  • 3 up, 3 down inning OR 13 pitches or less in the inning
• How often she throws each of her pitches
• Overall strike percentage for each of her pitches

Your pitcher can learn so much by understanding how well she throws STRIKES with her pitches and how much she works from ahead in the count. It also gives her a real focus for areas to improve from week to week.

Let's say she was at 70% overall strikes (which is a good number) but her first pitch strike percentage was at 40% (which is lower than we'd like). The next time she charts, a great goal for her would be to improve her 1st pitch strike percentage to over 50%. This gives her something SPECIFIC to focus on, getting ahead of hitters.

The really cool part about tracking things during practice is that it allows your pitcher to SEE the progress she is able to make over time, which will, of course, help to GROW HER CONFIDENCE!

4. COMPETE during bullpens and FAIL!

Pre-season pitching practice should regularly include competing!

As a pitching coach, 95% of my instruction is done in a small group setting. My classes are structured so that pitchers are approximately the same age and/or skill levels so that I can regularly include competition during training.

I WANT my pitchers to feel uncomfortable during training. I WANT them to fail!

It's important for me to SEE how they act and respond when they are pushed outside of their comfort zones so I can help them LEARN.

If all I do during their pitching lessons is make them feel good, I'm not preparing them for what's ahead of them during games.

Playing competitive games that reproduce many of the feelings they will have during games (nervousness, excitement, fear, etc) AND having consequences for mistakes (so they feel what it's like to fail during games) is built into ALL my pre-season pitcher's workouts!

I want them to learn to:

• use their pre-pitch routines to clear the last pitch
• focus ONLY on the pitch they are going to throw next
• control their pace and breathing
• choose their self-talk and body language well

Creating a competitive environment during training allows me to find MANY teachable moments about the choices pitchers have when they respond after FAILING at something.

In summary:

It's important as coaches and parents that we are really working to find opportunities to help our pitchers learn:

• CONSISTENT practice teaches them to TRUST themselves
• To be EXCEPTIONAL at a couple things, not average at many
• Failure is just a chance to learn and grow
• A poor performance doesn't DEFINE them as a pitcher
• Each pitch represents a FRESH START for them

Confidence CAN be taught and developed just like any physical skill! It's not something you either have or don't have! It's built through hard work and in many small moments over time.

If your pitcher is struggling with her confidence, identify which of the 4 areas I outlined above that you can use to try to help her get a little better today!

I promise you that the time you invest in helping to grow her belief in herself will be one of the BIGGEST things you can do to make her better!

All My BEST,

Myndie